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/ ^ INCIDENTAL REMAEKS 



WILLIAM H: SEWAED, 



RELATIVE TO 



GRANTS OF LANDS TO HUNGARIAN EXILES, &c. 



^e 



DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, JANUARY 30, 1850. 




WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED BY JNO. T. TOWERS, 
1850. 



INCIDENTAL RExMARKS 



ILLIAM H. SE¥AED, 



RELATIVE TO 



Grants of Lands to e?)u^)'ants, actual settlers, and to refugees, icho 
took part in the struggles for Independence in Hungary and other 
European countries : also, relative to the distribution of the sur- 
plus 7'cvenue,and the indicidual aiul national advantages arising ^ 
therefrom. 



DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, JANUARY 30, 1850. 



[Prepared by the official RepurtcTs for the Washington Union.] 

Mr. Houston submitted the tollowing resolution, which h? d^.- 
sired to have relerred to the Committei' on Public Lands: 

Resolved, That the Commiltee on Public Lands be instructed to inquire into the ex- 
pediency of granting to each family, (not landholders, or the owners of property worth 
the sum of $1,500,) citizens of the United States, or emigrants who are now here, or 
may arrive previous to the 4th of March next, one hundred and sixty acres of land ; 
and when said famihes shall have resj-ded upon the said land so granted three years con- 
tinuously, and shall erect buildings and clear ten acres of ground thereon, a patent shall 
be issued by the government of the United States, free from all cost, to the grantee. 

The resolution having been read, 

Mr. Houston said : I vi^ould simply remark that that resolution 
was prepared as an amendment to ihe resolu ion offered by the 
Senator from New York, (Mr. Seward.) Expecting that that re- 
solution would have been called up previous to this t me, I de- 
tained it until now, with the intention of ofFeri'g it as a substi- 
tute for that resolution. As that has not been called up, I will 
move that this be referred to the Committee on Public Lands, as 
an original resolution, in order that when the oth r proposition 
comes up, the committee maybe prepared to act upon t.e substi- 
tute which I propose. 

Mr. FooTE. I see no necessity for referring it. I should think 
it would be better that it should simply lie over. While I am up, 
I will take occasion to sav that I think that this is the best bid ot 
the kind that has been offered, although we have had many of 
them. If the only effect of this contest is to be to strengthen the 
personal popularity of the various Senators bringing in these pro- 
positions, I should be wholly indifferent myself. I will conclude 
by repeating that I think this is the best bid we have had yet. 



Mr. Hou.^TON begged leave to assure the Senator from Missis- 
sippi, that if he supposed he (Mr. Houston) had any idea of in- 
terfering with any other gentleman upon the subject ol huls, he 
was entirely mistaken, for he would assure him that he had no 
aspirations 'which would conflict with those to which the Senator 
from Mississippi was so justly entitled. (Laughter.) Mr. Hous- 
ton then proceeded with som'e general remarks in support of his 
proposition. 

Mr. Seward. Mr. President, the resolution which I had the 
honor to submit in relation to the subject now under considera- 
tion may as well be brought distinctly before the Senate, and I 
therefore will ask ihe Clerk to read the resolution. 
The resolution v\'as accordingly read as follows : 
Resolved, That the conduct of Austria and of Russia, in the war in which those 
powers have subverted the nationality and the hherties of Hungary, has heen marked liy 
injustice, oppression, and barbarity, which justly deserve the condemnation of mankind, 
while they commend the Hungarian people to the sympathies of other n^i6ns, and es- 
pecially of republican States ; and that the Committee on the Public Lands be directed 
to inquire and report on the propriety of setting apart a portion of the public domain to 
be granted, free of all charges, to the exiles of Hungary already arrived, and hereafter 
to arrive, in the United States, as well as to the exiles fleeing from oppression in other 
European countries. 

Mr. Seward proceeded. Mr. President, it will be recollected 
that, at a very early day in the sess on, the distinguished Senator 
from Michigan (Mr. Cass) introduced a resolution, in which it 
w^as proposed to instruct the Committee on Foreign Relations, 
to consider and report upon the expediency of suspending diplo- 
matic relations with Austria; on which occasion that honora- 
ble Senator enforced the resolution by a speech of surpassing 
power and interest ; and that the grounds upon which he recom- 
mended the suspension of diplomatic intercourse with Austria 
w^ere the oppression and barbarity of Austria in the recent wars 
V ith Hungary. I listened with very great interest, and with deep 
attention, to the speech of the Senator, in M-hich he portrayed his 
accusations against that i ower. But I was not prepared, and T 
am not yet prepared, to think the suspension of foreign relations 
with Austria is the proper form of giving expression to the sen- 
timent which is expressed by the Senator, and in which T cordially 
sympathize, and in which, I doubt not, every member of the Senate 
sympathizes with him. It was under those circumstances that I 
submitted the resolution to the Senate, in which I have expressed 
this sentiment of the American people, of condemnation of the 
atrocious conduct of Austria, and of deep and profound sympathy 
wi h the Hungarian people in their struggles f r nationality and 
independence. 

I have never called up the resolution for these reasons, Mr. 
President. In the first place, I did not think it became me to 
press upon the Senate the consideration of the resolutions which 
I have ofiered upon that or any other subject. In the second 
place, I deemed it a matter of respect to the distinguished Senator 



from Michigan, (Mr. Cass) — who, I hope, will allow me to say 
that I am his friend — to omit calling for this resolution of mine 
until he should have had an opportunity to test the sense of the 
Senate in regard to the proposition which he had submitted ; and 
I think that it would have been indecorous toward him, if I 
had sought to supersede the action upon his resolution, especially 
when I have seen that, every day for the last week, he has striven 
to bring it forward. When he shall bring it forward, I shall not 
wish to embarrass it with mine as an amendment. If the Senate 
choose to adopt that, it does not conflict with mine ; and if they 
disallow it, the proposition of the Senator from Michigan will not 
then stand in the way of the action which I propose. The pro- 
position which I have made is one which I hope will commend 
itself to the Senate. When it shall be put upon consideration. 
I will endeivor to explain in the best manner of which I 
shall be capable the reasons for its passage. I hope, therefore, 
with this explanation, that the Senator from Texas (Mr. Houstoxv) 
may have his resolution disposed of as is agreeable to him, either 
to lie upon the table or to come up as he shall see fit. As to the re- 
solution I have submitted, I shall not submit it as an amendment 
•of the proposition of the distinguished Senator from IMassachu- 
setts, (Mr. Webs er,) who is not now in his seat ; but I shall ask 
for its consideration, as a distinct measure, standing upon its own 
merits. For my own part, after this explanation, I have no in- 
tention to oGCLipy the attention of the Senate for one moment in 
sustaining my amendment. I wish to ask the question of the 
Senator from Michigan, whether he proposes to refer his' resolu- 
tion without debate ? If the Senate think proper, mine may take 
the same course, and all these matters may at once go to the re- 
spective committees. I have no objectio that my own resolution, 
with the bill 1 ha e proposed, should be referred with the other 
resolutions. 

Mr. Douglas, in submitting some observations relative to his 
bill granting land to actual settlers, and the proposition upon the 
same subject introduced by Mr. \ . ebster, expressed the belief 
that when the subject shall be investigated, it M'ill be found to be 
a policy of wise and serious legislation, and not a mere mode of 
manufacturing political capital, in the way that the Senator from 
Mississippi (Mr. Foote) had very pleasantly spoken of it. 

jNIr. Douglas, in alluding to the resolution introduced by Mr. 
Sewakd, said : But I regret, sir, that in his bill, the Senator from 
JNiew York proposes only to provide for the foreigner, and leaves 
the native-born American unprovided for. He proposes to lift 
the foreigner above the native. He proposes to give a bounty to 
the foreigner over that of the native-born citizen. When the 
foreigner shall come to my State and settle upon the public lands 
of that State, he is to get the land free ; but when the native 
American goes to the same State and settles by the side of him, 
he is to pay a bounty for his land into the public treasur}'-. I re- 



6 

gpetted to see this, sir. It was an unjust distinction drawn be- 
tween the native-born American and the forei ner, I wish to see 
the foreigner who comes to make a home with us put upon an 
equality with our own citizens. I will receive him with open 
arms — with generous aid and hospitality — and welcome him into 
our midst, and put him upon an equality with the native-born of 
the country. This, sir, is what I proposed in my bill ; it is what 
is proposed by the honorable Senator from Massachusetts ; this is 
what is proposed by the Senator from Texas ; and I was in hopes 
that this principle of placing emigrant and native-born upon an 
equal footing, and of encouraging the settlement of the new 
States by giving land to the settlers free, while those that are 
non-residents should pay the usual price, would become the policy 
of the country. 

Mr. Badger suggested that the public lands having been pledged 
for the payment of the debt accruing from the Mexican war,, 
could not properly and honestly be appropriated as had been pro- 
posed. 

Mr. Seward. Sir, I regret very much that the honorable 
Senator from Illinois (Mr. Douglas) has thought it necessary, 
upon the present occasion, to raise a question of comparative 
merit between the native born and the foreign citizen. If the 
question, however, must be raised, I am free to say, that to the 
extent which is implied in the resolution which I have submitted, 
I give the preference to the foreigner, the emigrant ; and that is 
to this extent : The man who is expelled bj' tyranny from his ovnx 
land, in consequence of an elibrt to establish its nationality and 
independence, I give, in m}'' sympathies, in my admiration, in my 
respect, a preference over one who has lost nothing, done nothing, 
suffered nothing, for his own freedom or for the freedom of man- 
kind. 

Further than this, Mr. President, I would not go ; and if the 
Senator from Illinois (Mr. Douglas) has inferred that I have sym- 
pathies for men of other lands, as men, in preference to my own 
countrymen, he does me an injustice, which, in due time, when 
his proposition comes before the Senate, he will have an opportu- 
nity to correct. I, sir, have never been — I am not now — I do not 
know \vhat I may be — but I never have been in favor of making 
the profits arising from the sale of the public lands a source of 
ordinary revenue in the operations of the government. I have 
always maintained, and I think I always shall maintain, that it is 
a great fund, the common property of the whole people of the 
United States, properly to be applied to objects of great national 
improvement and beneficence. And in this particular instance, I 
believe that a proper opportunity is afforded for us to exercise 
our charity towards those who are entitled to our sympathies for 
their own struggles for liberty and independence in foreign lands. 
Sir, I have never intimated an objection, I do not now say, that I 
have the slightest objection to the bill insisted upon by my respecta- 



ble friend from Illinois, (Mr. Douglas,) which is, I believe, the same 
in principle with the proposition of the distinguished Senator from 
Massachusetts, (IMr. Webster,) and with that introduced to-day by 
the distinguished Senator from Texas, (Mr. Houston.) When their 
propositions come before the Senate, they shall have my cordial 
support. I only say this, that the duty of making an expression 
in regard to the struggles for liberty in Europe was the subject 
under consideration when my proposition was submitted, and no- 
thing more. I intended to go that length ; that expression,! shall 
humblj^ insist, ought to be made ; and it is not wise, in my judg- 
ment, to connect it with other propositions, which will also receive 
my support. So that I would not have the bill of the distinguished 
Senator from Illinois, (Mr. Douglas,) or whoever may be entitled 
to the paternity of it, to be allowed to embarrass the proposition 
which I have had the honor to submit ; nor shall my proposition 
be allowed to embarrass that of the Senator from Illinois. I hope 
that I am now understood upon the subject, and that I have re- 
lieved myself from whatever censure may have arisen from a 
misunderstanding of my intentions. 

I owe it to my friend, the honorable Senator from Michigan, 
(Mr. Cass,) to say that I had no design to embarrass his resolution 
by offering mine as an amendment of his ; and I owe it to the 
honorable Senator from Illinois to say, that I had no knowledge, 
when I introduced my resolution, of the nature of the bill which 
he had introduced and submitted to the Senate. 

Mr. Dawson Mr. President, I have listened to this discussion, 
and tried to ascertain the principle upon which gentlemen have 
been proceeding in the various propositions which are before the 
Senate in relation to the distribution of the public domain. The 
Senator upon my right (jMr. Seward) says that he considers the 
public domain of this country is intended to create a great na- 
tional charity fund, and that it should not go into the general 
revenue for the benefit of the country at large ; that it must be 
disbursed for charitable purposes — the first great object presented 
to the American people for their attention. 

Mr. Seward, (interposing.) If the honorable Senator from 
Georgia will allow me — I did not say a great charity fund ; but a 
great national fund for great national purposes, and amongst 
them for purposes of national charity. 

Mr. Dawson. I did not misunderstand nor misrepresent the 
honorable Senator. He contends that the revenue derived from 
the sale of the public domain should not go into the general fund 
for general purposes, but should be reserved and held as a distinct 
fund for public charity, and other things of that kind ; or, in other 
words, holding out a permanent premium, a permanent bid to the 
patriots of foreign lands to come to this land of the oppressed. 
Why, sir, does he not perceive at once, that if this policy be 
adopted and carried out, that great struggle which is now going 
on for liberty in Europe will cease, and cease by the buying oft' of 



every patriot there, and settling him down here as one rewarded 
for the desertion of his own country ? Why, sir, we shall empty 
all Europe of every man who is now laboring for the emancipa- 
tion of his own country, and bring him here to reap the benefit 
which we thus offer as a reward, by this public and wdiolesale 
national charity. But, sir, there are principles deeper than these 
involved in this matter. Who are these gentlemen who are plan- 
ning out these various modes of giving away the public lands ? 
Are they those who are friendly to a strict and economical admin- 
istration of the government, and to a limited and moderate tariff? 
or are they those, Mr. President, ^vho desire to create a large na- 
tional debt ? who seek to raise the revenue of the country by tax- 
ation, and to bestow the public domain as a charity upon for- 
eigners ? Why, sir, I have asked myself this question. Whose 
blood was spilled in obtaining these public lands ? Whose money 
went to compose the fifteen millions paid for the acquisition of 
the Territories of New Mexico and California ? Who paid the 
soldiers who fought in that war, in consequence of which those 
Territories were acquired ? Was it those foreigners who are in- 
vited to come to this land, and take the proceeds of our blood and 
our treasures, and apply them to their own use ? 

Sir, this is a movement and a policy wdiich arises out of the na- 
ture of our institutions. It is a result of the doctrine of an elec- 
tion by popular vote. There is the principle upon which all this 
movement rests. And, sir, I have been struck by the fact that, in 
all these resolutions thus presented here, no mention is made of 
any other class of individuals but voters. The charitable and 
philanthropic feelings of gentlemen do not reach beyond the voter. 
Women and children are not mentioned. Where is the widow, 
made such by the death of a husband slain while fighting the 
battles of our country in Mexico — where is she to obtain these 
lands ? 

Mr. Seward, (interposing.) If the Senator will examine the 
provisions of my bill, he will find that provision is made for the 
widow. 

Mr. Dawson. I am speaking of your resolution — that which 
will go before the country and the people. Is there one word in 
relation to them in it ? J\ot one ! Who is there that does not feel 
for the widow and orphan, made so by the battles of our country, 
fought in ]Mexico ? How can they go and settle on and remain 
and cultivate for four years one hundred and sixty or three hun- 
dred and twenty acres of land? Who are to transport them 
there, and how are they to be maintained and protected when 
there ? A great national charity ! National for foreigners, but 
not for natives, and for widows and children who need, and who 
are justly entitled to the first charities, or rather to the justice of 
the nation. There is no other character of persons in this coun- 
try that gentlemen seem to have a deep and abiding sympathy and 
affection for but voters. Where are the free negroes in this coun- 



try, another class of population in whom gentlemen profess the 
warmest interest ? Have you made any provision for them? 

Mr. Seward, (interposing.) The gentleman will lind 

Mr. Dawson. And where are all those distressed natives who 
are condemned to the horrid fate — as the Senator from Texas 
deems it — of having to earn their daily bread by the sweat of 
their brows ? I have asked myself, sir, what there is at the bot- 
tom of all this. There is no little truth, I think, in the idea al- 
luded to by the distinguished Senator from Michigan, that there 
is demagogism in all these propositions. These, Mr. President, 
are my views upon that point. 

But, sir, there seems to me to be one other thing at the bottom 
of this movement, to M^hich I have already slightly adverted. 

This disposition of the public lands is a piece of machinery in 
the administration of the affairs of this country of immense 
power, and exercises a tremendous influence over the public pros- 
perity ; and this manner of disposing of the domain by making it 
a great national charity fund has consequences which reach very 
far, and which seem to furnish a pretence for carrying out the 
views of the protectionists in the maintenance of a high-tariff 
system. 

I have no doubt, sir, for one, that those who are entitled to and 
should receive the benefit of the disposition of the public lands, 
whatever it may be, are our own citizens — men who have lived 
under and helped to rear our institutions to their present pre-emi- 
nence. They are the first people to be considered. In my opin- 
ion, sir, the men whose treasure and whose blood have been ex- 
pended in the acquisition of these Territories are better entitled to 
the enjoyment of them than those who arrive for the first time in 
the country, having never paid any portion of the taxes which 
have gone to make the purchase, and who bring nothing into the 
country. 

Mr. Badger, (interposing.) Having notning to bring. 

Mr. Dawson. Yes, sir, having nothing to bring. And yet he is 
told on his arrival that they are not to be put to that terrible ne- 
cessity, so much deprecated by the hojiorable Senator from Texas — 
the necessity of earning their daily bread by the sweat of their 
brows. 

Mr. Houston. I must interrupt the gentleman, to say that he 
misunderstood or misapprehended my remarks. I 

Mr. Dawson. No, no. I thought it an excellent hit. [Laugh- 
ter.] I mean what I say merely in a Pickwickian sense. [Renew- 
ed laughter.] Now, Mr. President, we will come down to Texas. 
We had to pay for her, and very dearl}^ too, when she came in. 
California and New Mexico we have to pay for also. Now, sir, 
who is to pay for these Territories 1 In any court of equit}^, the 
property purchased would stand security for the payment of the 
debt. But how is it now ? The property purchased is to be made 
a charity fund, and given to those who never contributed a particle 



10 

of money, nor lost a drop of blood in its purchase. They must have 
it, and the man who brought about this state of things by his suffer- 
ings and his valor must be excluded from its benefits. The whole 
people of this country, inhabitants and citizens, must pay the 
debt. In other words, you tax your citizens to raise money to buy 
lands to distribute among foreigners, who are to become voters, 
and go the ballot-box on the first Tuesday of November every four 
years. That, sir, is the secret of this whole machinery ; and a 
ipublic opinion is to be started here, and to be influenced by the 
various combined movements of gentlemen, and brought to bear 
upon the public sentiment throughout the country. Thus public 
opinion sinks down in perfect quiescence. The public lands are 
given away, and it is all smooth and proper ; but the next session, 
when you come to make your appropriations, the funds are defi- 
cient, and they must be raised from some other source. Hence 
the tariff must be augmented, and thus another object is attained 
at the same time. These frequent elections, and these enormous 
aspirations for high place, are calculated to sap the foundation of 
our system, and of our political existence as a Union of States. 
Do we see any section or any party in the country that is forming 
on any systematic plan to carry this country on in her career of 
glory? "Sir, in my opinion, everything in the country is rapidly 
tending to disorder and disunion ; and yet, we are spending our 
time and strength upon paltry struggles for individual ascendency, 
and forgetting to go down to the case of injustice perpetrated by 
.one section of the country upon the other. We overlook the dan- 
gers that lie hid in this tremendous issue, and trample upon it as 
we would trample upon the fire which is just beginning to burn, 
disregarding it, until the full b^ze bursts upon us in its fury. I 
have looked at these things, sir, and I find in them abundant cause 
of alarm ; and yet I profess to be one of the moderate men. Sir, 
no man is more conservative than I am ; no man more desirous 
of the perpetuity of this Union, and of all its glorious reminis- 
cences than I am. But, sir, I look upon the present state of af- 
fairs with deep, melancholy, and painful forebodings. I see no 
broad patriotism founded upon national grounds. I see instead 
sectional combinations and personal intrigues. Why is it, sir, 
that the great minds of the country are engaged in a struggle for 
personal ends, and seeming ready to take advantage of the ex- 
citement which now agitates the land, and of every minor ques- 
tion, to advance individual views at a crisis in the affairs of the 
Government like this 1 

Mr. President, I had no idea that anything could have induced 
me to enter so much at large upon this subject. But such, sir, 
are my feelings, and such my views upon the present condition of 
the country ; such, too, are my apprehensions ; and when I look 
around me, everything, in my humble judgment, is portentous ; 
and I felt that the present occasion was a fitting time to express 
briefly views which I entertained in reference to our condition. It 



11 

results in this, that, in relation to the matter now under conside- 
ration, the great interests of our people are to be entirely disre- 
garded, and the tax-payer and the payer for the lands purchased 
from the Indians and from foreign countries are to be taxed for 
the benefit of foreigners — the legislation here, as in most other 
cases, being for extremes — while the great central point is entirely 
disregarded. The native citizen — the respectable native inhabi- 
tant, who is the pillar of the State — is overlooked in the exces- 
sive zeal which Senators feel to provide for those to whom we 
owe nothing, however kindly may be our sentiments towards 
them ; and it is proclaimed, that the millions which should be de- 
rived from the sale of the public lands shall not go into the public 
treasury, to relieve our own population from the burden of taxa- 
tion, but is to be made a special fund for charitable and other pur- 
poses ; in other words, to form just such a fund as Congress choose 
to make of it, and to be applied to just such purposes as Congress 
choose to apply it to. Now, I call upon Congress for their consti- 
tutional right to do any such thing. I demand to know by what 
authority Congress constitutes itself the public almoner of the na- 
tion, and proposes to dispose of the whole of the public domain 
for such and similar purposes. Our Government is a government 
of delegated powers, and no such power is delegated. We have 
no right to dispose of any part of the proceeds of the public pro- 
perty, at any time, or in any way, except according to the powers 
delegated to us in the instrument under which we act. And yet 
we are called upon here to vote that the proceeds of the public 
domain shall not go into your treasury, but that they shall be di- 
verted to special objects, for which Vv^e have no such authority. I 
am — in the language of a gentleman who spoke yesterday — op- 
posed to these things, and at the proper time I shall proclaim it. 
I look upon it as the beginning of a course which, like many other 
beginnings, will prove an evil which will at last become in- 
sufferable. 

Mr. Douglas, in the course of a reply to a portion of the re- 
marks made by the Senator from Louisiana, (Mr. Dawson,) said : 
Sir, I am equally opposed to the doctrine of the Senator from 
Georgia, who would discriminate against foreigners, and that of 
the Senator from New York, who wishes to discriminate in cer- 
tain instances against the native citizen in ffivor of foreigners. 
It has been a misfortune in this country that a discrimination has 
been too often made between foreigners and those who are 
American born. Sir, those who denounce foreigners are as much 
liable to the criticism of seeking votes by availing themselves of 
the American prejudice, as those who make a distinction in favor 
of foreigners are for seeking votes from the foreign population. 
In Philadelphia it has been common, I believe, for gentlemen to 
receive votes on that ground. And it is there found in certain 
cases advantageous to denounce the foreigner, just as elsewhere 
it may be so to laud him. The true policy is to receive the fo- 



12 

reigner kindly, and to make no discrimination for or against him. 
And I do not'think myself that the Senator from New York even 
makes out a proper "case for the distinction he speaks of. We 
have mifortunate men who have been wounded and maimed in 
the war with Mexico ; and, sir, the man who has been unfortu- 
nate at home is just as much entitled as he who has been so 
abroad to the benefit of any policy we may adopt. It is a true, 
wise, and just policy to make no distinction between the foreign- 
er and the native-born citizen. 

Mr. Houston addressed the Senate in vindication of his resolu- 
tion. In the course of his remarks he said : It seems to be un- 
derstood, Mr. President, that no provision is made in these reso- 
lutions for families, and that the object is to catch the popular 
vote of the country — that it is in a spirit of demagogism that such 
things are brought forward here. Sir, were it not for the character 
of gentlemen who have previous to this time, and without my 
knowledge until this discussion occurred, taken part in this matter, I 
might have questioned my motives upon the subject. But, as it 
now is, I am led to conclude that it is a matter of grave delibera- 
tion and sound policy. I am satisfied that neither the Senator who 
first originated the bill, the Senator from Illinois, the Senator from 
New York, (Mr. Seward,) nor the distinguished Senator from JNIas- 
sachusetts, (Mr. Webster,) \\'t)uld have given their attention to a 
subject that embraced principles of demagogism. Even if it had 
come from the honorable and distinguished Senator from Michigan 
(Mr. Cass) himself, I should not have attributed it to demagogism ; 
but I should have thought it to have originated in a desire to give 
a more comfortable home and a competency to these people. I 
should have ascribed it to higher motives than demagogism. I 
would have thought the generous impulses of humanity had im- 
pressed upon his mind the conviction that it was useful, right, and 
just, not only to the individuals, but to the country. 

]\Ir. Seward. I ask the indulgence of the Senate for one mo- 
ment, in reply to some remarks of my friend from Georgia, (Mr. 
Dawson.) He has alluded to the motives which he supposed to 
operate upon members of this bod}', in bringing before the Senate 
questions of this character. My reply to the Senator upon that 
point will be exceedingly brief. It is, that I am here for public 
measures, not for private ends — that no imputation which can be 
made, even by a friend whom I esteem and respect so highly as I 
domy friend from Georgia, shall ever put me before this body, or 
any other, on a defence of myself against suspicions or complaints 
of this kind. And now, sir, the point in the remarks which I made 
which elicited the most severe rebuke from my friend from 
Georgia was, that I had suggested that I had always been op- 
posed to the applying of the current revenues arising from the 
public lands to the ordinary expenses of the federal government. 
And the Senator persisted in supposing that I intended that they 
should be applied for no other purpose than a charity fund. I 



will illustrate, for the information of the Senator and others, 
what I mean by the application of those revenues to great na- 
tional purposes and objects. 

The distinguished Senator from Kentucky, (Mr. Clay,) several 
years since, by his great influence in the councils of the nation, 
secured the distribution among the several States of this Union of 
of a portion of these and other surplus revenues of this govern- 
ment. I was at a distance, an humble follower and approver of 
that policy. The result of it in other States I know not. But 
you, Mr. President, can testify with me the result, the beneficent 
result, in the State of New York, from which we come. The 
share which was allotted to us was $0,000,000 ; the amount we 
received was $4,500,000. Every dollar of that four-and-a-half 
millions, sir, more than ten years ago, went to the formation of 
public schools, academies, seminaries, and other higher institutions 
of learning, and of libraries for the common people. And, sir, 
1 will now state to the Senate — and I am proud that, in behalf of 
the State of New York, I am here this day to state it to the praise 
and honor of the distinguished Senator from Kentucky — the con- 
dition of the State of New York, of the people, bond and free — I 
might say, if we had any of the former class — native and foreign- 
er, to which they have been brought by this act of justice — I will 
not call it benevolence. Sir, the State of New York, having a 
population of three millions of people, has not in it one child of 
citizen or foreigner that is not educated, from the age of five years 
to the age of twenty years, at the public cost and expense. Again, 
sir: at the distance of every mile and a half on every main-road, 
rail-road, canal, and cross-road — separated by only a mile and a 
half — is the schoolhouse of New England. The school-master is 
at home everywhere in New York, and all the time ; and New 
York has made a trial of the blessed example of INIassachusetts 
and Connecticut. This is what has been done in my day, since 
my and your experience began ; and more than that : in every 
one of these school-houses is a public library of two hundred and 
fifty volumes, containing all that is interesting in ancient or mod- 
ern history or science, literature, geography, and every other branch 
of human knowledge, open and accessible to every citizen — man, 
woman, and child — in the State of New York. Yes, sir, these 
four millions and a half have supplied us with libraries which, 
taken collectively, contain more than one million of volumes. 

More than that, sir : there has not been left in the State of 
. New York, the blind person who has not been taught to read his 
bible — there has not been left in the State the deaf and dumb, the 
mute, who has not been brought to be able to give expression of 
his gratitude and praise to God, and to the State which has brought 
him from ignorance and degradation below his race. More than 
that, sir : we have not neglected that other unfortunate class. I have 
have been askedwhy not consider the free negroes ? Sir, the free ne- 
groes have been considered. This fund has been appropriated to 



14 

their their advancement, also ; to raise their condition ; to cul- 
tivate them to exercise the rights of self-government, and to carry- 
on the great work ofthe emancipation of their race wherever 
they are found in bondage. Yes, sir, five thousand children 
of the African race are educated out of this great fund of national 
benevolence. What becomes of the reproach, then, that this is a 
charity ? What would have been the disposition of this fund if 
it had been left here, sir? It would have been expected as the re- 
venues of this country, always too large, too liberal, have been 
expended, in improvidence. Jt is therefore that I have always 
claimed that it should be distributed among the States, that they 
might appl}^ it to works of advancement — progress — humanity. 

Now, sir, there has been no diminution of it all this time. 
While we have been enjoying this four and a half millions, there 
is not one dollar of it gone. Everj^ dollar is there yet. It is still 
in the treasury of the State of New York ; and all that has been 
done has been done only bj'^ the use of the money. Tell me;, sir, is it 
not wiser to make such a distribution of this fund than it would be 
to employ it in encouraging prodigality in the government ; than to 
encourage that lust of conquest in which the Mexican war had its 
origin, by which was brought into this Union seven hundred and 
sixty- three millions of acres of public domain, to be added to the one 
thousand millions we had before ? What has it wrought? It has 
proved, in the words of an honorable Senator here, but a Pando- 
ra's box of evils ; and we are entertained here, day after day, 
with the intelligence that the Union must be dissolved — that it is 
really now dissolved — even to-day-. We employed the revenues 
of the public domains in extending our dominions that were too 
large — unnecessarily large — already. Sir, I want no more Mexi- 
can wars, no more lust of conquest, no more of seizing the unri- 
pened fruit, which, if left alone, would of itself fall into our hands. 
I claim that the Federal Government shall be brought at once to 
its responsibility to the people, and that the people shall know 
what it costs them to indulge it in wars of conquest. 

The Senator from Georgia and the Senator from Illinois are 
grieved that there is a peculiar character about my proposition, 
in considering the case of foreigners as distinguishable from the 
case of American citizens. My friend on my left, from Georgia, 
supposes that he has found a peculiarly objectionable feature in 
this proposition, not found in that of the honorable Senator from 
Massachusetts and of the honorable Senator from Texas, because 
it provides distinctly for foreigners, without providing for others. 
Sir, these remarks — and I am sorry to say, the reception which 
they received, ungracious to me, from the Senator from Illinois — 
oblige me to say what I would not have said — that the way to 
defeat any benevolent or charitable object is to bring into compe- 
tition with it some other objects of charity which ought to be 
provided for first. Sir, the religion which inculcates the duty of 



*■*- 7 4. 1 



^1 



15 

chanty gives us an admonition against such schemes for defeat- 
-ing the ends of chanty. 

Mr. Douglas. "Will the Senator from New York allow me to 
call his attention to the fact that my bill was brought in first, and, 
therefore, that it is his which is in competition with mine ? 

Mr. Seward. I do not allude to the Senator's bill. The first 
time that I have heard of it from a source to which I could ac- 
knowledge myself indebted for the information was this morning ; 
and upon that occasion I rendered to him the deserved homage of 
my gratitude. I claim, however, that for the »Senator to join with 
the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Dawson) in censuring me because 
I discriminated between foreigners and native-born, was an un- 
kind and an unnecessary return for that homage. I was going 
to say that the religion which inculcates charity at all events, 
and which will never exculpate him who neglects it, admonishes 
us also to pour oil upon and annoint with ointment — with precious 
ointment — the Savior while he is with us, though the Pharisee 
may cavil, and say that this precious ointment might have been 
sold, and the value of it given to the poor. Now, sir, 1 know of 
no other way of performing the duty of justice, and of accomplish- 
ing the object before me. It is no excuse to me for not paying 
this creditor, that there is another creditor there to whom I am 
equally indebted ; because we have poor in our own country, I am 
not discharged from the claim of charity upon me in behalf of the 
exiles, whose liberties have been stricken down, and who have 
been driven amongst us from their oM-n land. Let them all come 
on: let them present themselves in whatever order, and to the 
extent of my ability I will discharge and cancel my obligations 
to the whole. If my friend from Georgia (Mr. Dawson) sup- 
poses that this is a measure I am going to require him to sup- 
port, as a relief of aliens, or of the alien and the foreigner, I will 
tell him, and I will tell the Senator from Illinois, (Mr. Douglass,) 
that they much mistake the nature and character of my senti- 
ments and principles with regard to aliens and foreigners. I am 
in favor of the equality of men — of all men, whether they be born 
in one land or born in another. I am in favor of receiving the whole. 
I acknowledge them all to constitute one great family, for whom 
it is the business of statesmen and the business of man to labor 
and to live. And, sir, when I do have occasion to ask the votes of 
those distinguished Senators and friends in behalf of the alien and 
the foreigner, it will be not the exile merely, who is commended 
to our sympathies for the sufferings he has sustained in the cause 
of liberty in Europe ; but it will be for (he melioration of the 
laws of naturalization, which put a period of five years and an 
oath in the way of any man of any country in becoming a citizen, 
which raise a barrier between ourselves and those who cast their 
lot amongst us. There is where they will find me ; and they will 
find that to the extent that humanity beai'S the semblance which 
is impressed upon us by the hand of our maker, it is my design 



16 

and my purpose to labor to bring about that equality in the land 
in which I live, and as far as may be in all other lands. 

And, going upon this broad principle, I have no hesitation in 
saying that there is no distinction in my respect or affection be- 
tween men of one land and of another ; between men of one 
clime and another ; between men of one race and another ; or 
between men of one color and another ; no distinction but what 
is based, not. upon institutions of government, not upon the consent 
of society, but upon their individual and personal merit. If the 
Senator from Georgia (Mr. Dawson) will test this, if he has this 
sympathy for free negroes which I am rejoiced to hear him pro- 
claim, let him bring in his bill, and the first aye that shall respond 
to it will be mine — if none should so respond to it before my 
name should be alphabetically reached, shall be mine. More 
than that ; if his sympathies embrace a class that deserve them 
still more — the slave — let him bring in his bill for the slave, and 
my voice for emancipating the slave in any district or territory 
shall go for it. Nay, more; let him show me a way in v^^hich I 
can give a vote, an effectual vote, for the emancipation of the 
slave, in his own State, or any State, and I shall feel honored to 
participate in the movement ; and my vote shall be given to sus- 
tain it, with more gladness, more gratitude, and more joy, than it 
was ever given upon any occasion in my. life. 

Sir, neither here nor elsewhere will I admit, as a rule for the 
government of my own conduct, that there is a distinction be- 
tween men. But, on the contrary, I will walk up to the mark, 
assigned in the declaration of independence, that " all men are 
CREATED EQUAL."- Sir, the first vote given by me to keep any man 
or any class of men in a condition below my own is yet to be 
given. It never will be given in this place. 

Mr. President, I have submitted the remarks I thought neces- 
sary to vindicate my proposition from the censure it received 
when it has so indirectly made its appearance before the Senate. 
When that proposition shall be brought before the Senate in its 
proper order and manner, after the Senate shall have considered 
the resolution of the honorable Senator from Michigan, (Mr. Cass,) 
I shall be pleased to state the reasons why I have submitted that 
proposition in detail, and the grounds upon which I have given it 
its present form. 







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